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by Transposable_Element



Category: Greek and Roman Mythology
Genre: 3 Sentence Ficathon, 3 Sentence Fiction, AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2015-03-05
Packaged: 2018-03-11 06:52:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3318077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Transposable_Element/pseuds/Transposable_Element
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of Greek mythology three sentence fics written for <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/users/rthstewart/pseuds/rthstewart">rthstewart</a>'s <a href="http://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/119267.html">three sentence ficathon</a>. I have made some edits since posting the originals on dreamwidth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bitterness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hades isn't a villain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For [](http://ninanni.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**ninanni**](http://ninanni.dreamwidth.org/) who is [Ninnani](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninnani) in response to the prompt [Greek Mythology, Hades and Zeus, Why is Hades always the villain in the movies?](http://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/119267.html?thread=3622627#cmt3622627)

 

I am the god who drew the short straw; I am the god buried in darkness, chained to my own realm, while my brothers and nephews live in the sunlight, consorting with goddesses and nymphs and mortal princesses; I am a gloomy god, a lonely god, a wealthy god who cannot enjoy his wealth; I am a god whose name cannot be spoken.

I stole Persephone—with the permission of Zeus, her father—and I suppose you will not believe me when I say that she has come to take pleasure in being the Dread Queen of the Dead; that she returns to my realm willingly each year; that she knows full well that without death there would be no new life, and that the very fecundity of the soil depends upon death and decay.

Human life and death are in the hands of the Fates; I merely welcome the dead here into my realm, and for that I am held a monster—a dimensionless evil, a cruel antagonist, a cartoon villain.

Yes, I am bitter.

 

 


	2. Rulers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The daughters of Rhea rule.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For [](http://dariaw.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**dariaw**](http://dariaw.dreamwidth.org/) who is [storiesfortravellers](http://archiveofourown.org/users/storiesfortravellers/pseuds/storiesfortravellers) in response to the prompt [Greek myth, any, gender swap](http://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/119267.html?thread=3691747#cmt3691747).

 

When the Titan war was over the three daughters of Rhea divided the world among them. Hestia built a hearth in the underworld, thinking to make it a comfortable and homelike place for the dead to spend eternity (also, fire would come in handy for the inevitable punishments of those who sinned against the gods); Demeter ruled the oceans, and though she sometimes took delight in crushing ships and drowning men, she also liked to tend the beds of kelp and nourish the coral reefs; and Hera, of course, wielded the thunderbolt from Olympus, took her pleasure among the gods (except the stubbornly celibate Hades), and from time to time descended to earth to pursue mortal men. One day she might take a consort; Zeus was a possibility, but he was so jealous, it seemed better for the moment to enjoy her freedom.

 

 


	3. Observation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Odysseus and Penelope take each other's measure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For [](http://penelopes.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**penelopes**](http://penelopes.dreamwidth.org/), in response to the prompt [Greek mythology, Odysseus/Penelope, the first time](http://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/119267.html?thread=3670755#cmt3670755)

 

Odysseus had heard of Penelope’s beauty, and so while he was visiting her father’s house he went to spy upon her, to see her before she could be combed and perfumed and painted, and whatever else women did when they came before men. She was at her loom, but watching from behind he couldn't see her face, only her slender back and heavy rope of shining hair, and so he watched her hands moving back and forth: beautiful hands, clever hands. Then, although he would have sworn he made no sound, she turned and looked straight into his face and said, “I suppose you are Odysseus.”

 

 


	4. Shocks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Persephone is tempted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For [](http://bring-me-sugar.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**bring_me_sugar**](http://bring-me-sugar.dreamwidth.org/) in response to the prompt [Greek Mythology, Hades/ or & Persephone, Lethe](http://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/119267.html?thread=4502243#cmt4502243).

 

Each year when Persephone returns to the underworld she is tempted to drink from the river Lethe so as to forget everything she is and to spare herself the shock of transition, but she knows this would defeat the purpose of her yearly travail—the true reason for her sojourn here, not the silly legalism Hades believes he used to trap her. She knows that in a few months' time when she leaves this place to dive back into the hectic turmoil called life she will feel an inverse shock, utterly different but just as strong, and as the peace of the realm of the dead envelopes her along with her husband’s cool embrace her desire to drink the waters of oblivion recedes. Her true purpose is nothing less than to knit together life and death: to die, bringing life into the underworld, and to be reborn, emerging green into the world above, nourished by death, strengthened by it, and so, much as she sometimes wishes to sink fully and finally into either life or death, she knows she cannot allow herself the balm of forgetfulness.

 

 


End file.
